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As an aspiring Chartered Surveyor specialising in development land, I would like to think I have a reasonable working knowledge of the planning process. It wasn’t until I was at the coal face that I quickly realised the theoretical side of development planning taught at university was worlds apart from reality on the ground.

 

With public and press sentiment towards “building houses” seemingly engrained in our culture, how do we look at changing NIMBYS to YIMBYs? Often the contributions made by developers and landowners via CIL and S.106 are not transparent enough for locals to see their impact.

 

I have been fortunate in the first year of my career to have been involved in several schemes where I have witnessed a clear sea change, driven by both a landowner and developers desire to provide local infrastructure based on local need.

 

It is clear that where the delivery of infrastructure is more apparent, rather than indirectly through contributions and levies, the prospects of planning success are remarkably higher. These projects have included the physical delivery of doctor surgeries, local shops, village halls, sporting facilities, care homes, retirement schemes, and specialist accommodation for residents with disabilities.

 

Haven Farm in Sutton Valence provides an excellent example of where this has succeeded. The site has a resolution to grant planning for 105 homes but critically includes the provision of a local shop, retains the local post office, and delivers a site for a new medical centre. Important infrastructure projects such as these will help to make Sutton Valence more sustainable and accessible for more people within the local community.

 

Further east in Kent a site on Ramsgate Road, Margate offers another example where we were able to help secure planning for a mixed used scheme that included a 68-bed Care Home, 10 self-contained 2- and 3-bedroom flats and a doctor’s surgery on the ground floor commercial unit. This scheme will provide vital infrastructure for the surrounding area who now will have more immediate access to elderly care and general healthcare for the public.

 

Whilst it might be remiss of me to say none of these schemes had objectors, they did, but significantly less than other schemes on which I have worked. The feedback at public consultations was clear that where local stakeholders were seeing infrastructure directly delivered, in principle and blanket objections are vastly reduced. Visibility of local infrastructure is key. All too often contributions, whilst significant are invisible to local residents.

 

It is a privilege so early on in my career to have helped shape these schemes that still delivers value to our landowner clients, but also provides clear and visible direct benefits to the local community. Perhaps if there was more transparency about where the contributions and levies were spent, then there would be less negative kickback to more traditional residential development as well.

 

Please contact either Mark Presland (mark.presland@dha-group.co.uk) or Sam Boland (Sam.Boland@dha-group.co.uk).

 

Figure 1 – Haven Farm has a resolution for 105 dwellings, local shop and new medical centre

 

Figure 2 – CGI illustration of the 68-bed care home

 

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